1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and method for analyzing data, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for analyzing data derived from a manufacturing control environment in which large amounts of raw data are generated in the course of controlling a manufacturing facility.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the basic component parts of the workstation described in co-pending and commonly assigned application Ser. No. 09/006,443 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,402), filed Jan. 13, 1998, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. A workstation 100 generally includes a computer terminal 101 and test equipment 102. The computer 101 has a display 103 for display of a variety of graphical user interfaces (GUI""s) of the invention, as well as the usual input devices such as a mouse 104, a keyboard 105 and a bar code reader 106. In addition, cable connectors 107 provide a mechanism for interfacing the computer 101 with the test equipment 102. In addition, the workstation includes an assembly platform 108, which may include automated manufacturing equipment 109 and/or sensors and actuators for the assembly of component parts by the assembler 110. Any automated manufacturing equipment is also under control of the computer 101 via cables 107.
Generally, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of workstations 100 will be arranged in multiple rows in a manufacturing facility. In most cases, a device will be assembled in stages starting at the first station 100 of a row. The device is passed down the row from station-to-station at the completion of each assembly stage. Each assembly stage will typically include multiple assembly steps and one or more test measurements. A unique serial number may be fixed to the device or its carrier to trace its progress through the manufacturing cycle.
Each work station is characterized by the inclusion of software for interactively providing work instructions to the user and for integrating the test and measurement functions, thus providing a mechanism for forced reading by the worker and cross-checking of worker steps. The software may be resident at the workstation computer, but is preferably download over an assembly plant network. Networking provides a number of advantages, including global downloading of instructional updates and ease in tracing the progress of individual assemblies.
Assume by way of example that a workstation is configured for the splicing of an optical fiber to an optical amplifier. This process stage might consist of multiple process steps. A graphical user interface of the computer 101 displays each of the steps in sequence as they are completed. Further, in the case where a test and measurement function is called for upon the completion of a step, the computer 101 is programmed to setup the test, perform the test and verify that the testing has indeed been completed and that the test results are within acceptable parameters.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing a communications network which may be employed and is described in co-pending and commonly assigned application Ser. No. 09/020,512, filed Feb. 9, 1998 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,401), the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. A local area network (LAN) 302 serves users (i.e. workstations), typically within the confined geographic area of an assembly plant. That is, the LAN 302 is made up of a server 304, the workstations 306, a database server 304, a network operating system 310, and a communications link 312.
The network operation system 310 is the controlling software in the LAN 302, such as the well-known NetWare or UNIX operating systems, and a component part of this software resides in the workstations 306. The operating system 310 allows the application program running in each workstation 306 to read and write data from the server 308 as if it were resident in at the workstation 306. The communications link 312 is implemented by cable, such as fiber, coax or twisted pair, and physically interconnects the server 304 and workstations 306 via network adapters (not shown). It is noted that multiple types of LAN configurations and transport protocols may be used to implement the network and are well known in the networking art.
The database server 304 includes the database management system DBMS 316 and the database 314. The DBMS 314 accepts requests from the application programs (which may be resident at the server 304 or the workstations 306), and instructs the operating system 310 to transfer requested data to and from the application programs. The DBMS 316 also controls at least the organization, storage and retrieval of the data stored in the database 314.
A salient feature of the manufacturing control network resides in the data structure in which the work instructions and related information are stored in the database. In particular, the network is preferably a relational data base driven system providing process flexibility. The data structure allows for the alteration and/or addition of products, serial numbers and process step, as well as the work instructions, test files and automated manufacturing steps associated with each product, serial number and work instruction, without having to rewrite or alter the underlying code of the manufacturing control station. In other words, the operational code functions independently of the content presented to the user in the form of graphical interfaces and applied to the work station, as well as independently of the content of the automated tests and manufacturing functions.
This aspect is explained further with reference to FIG. 4. The upper cube is representative of a three-dimension tracking table of the database. The table is said to have three dimensions in that there are three related pieces of information stored therein in table form. In particular, the tracking table identifies the type of product (e.g., amplifier), the serial number of the product, and the process steps associated with the product. To retrieve a given process step for the workstation, the input selected product and process, as well as the scanned-in serial number, are used to link to the selection of action items contained in an action table of the database. The action table, which also may also be represented as a three-dimensional table, is shown as the bottom cube in FIG. 4 and contains works instructions, graphics, video and other media, test files, and automated manufacturing files. The underlying code of the manufacturing control station of the invention is essentially driven by the data retrieved from the tracking and action tables. Thus, the contents of the tables may be freely updated without reworking the program code itself. For example, graphics may be changed or work instructions updated by changing the table contents, without any additional programming effort.
The manufacturing control system may use time stamped action and tracking tables for use in selectively pulling data for any networked workstation. That is, an additional pointer may be used that is locked to the date for every entry in the tracking and action tables. This allows the most recent data to be extracted in execution of the assembly processes.
The communications system described above allows for any workstation within the manufacturing control system to be configured for the new, reworked or restarted optoelectronic assemblies. Also, the system controls data traffic for the multiple networked workstations so that reconfiguration of any one work station for a modified or new process is feasible from both the workstation or a remote location.
The manufacturing control system described above in connection with FIGS. 1-4 generates an enormous amount of raw data. This raw data includes data describing the pass/fail performance of each board associated with each process and each individual assembler of the plant. While it is possible for individuals to access the raw data for their own purposes, and try to analyze the data, such would be cumbersome in the extreme. That is, in the absent of an analysis tool, there is no practical way of analyzing the raw data.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for analyzing data derived from a manufacturing control environment in which large amounts of raw data are generated in the course of controlling a manufacturing facility.
According to one aspect of the invention, a system is provided for analyzing raw data derived from a manufacturing control facility, the manufacturing control facility for manufacturing at least one device by execution of a sequence of operations, the system including at least one user terminal; a preprocessor which receives the raw data from the manufacturing control facility and which configures the raw data into a predetermined database format; a database for storing the raw data after being configured by said preprocessor; a server which transmits queries and results between said database and said at least one user terminal; and at least one graphical user interface at said user terminal which displays the results transmitted by said server, the results indicative of at least one performance parameter of the operations.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for analyzing raw data derived from a manufacturing control facility, the manufacturing control facility for manufacturing at least one device by execution of a sequence of operations, the method including receiving the raw data from the manufacturing control facility and using a preprocessor to configure the raw data into a predetermined database format; storing the raw data after being configured by said preprocessor into a database; using a server to transmit queries and results between said database and at least one user terminal; and displaying on at least one graphical user interface at said user terminal the results transmitted by said server, the results indicative of at least one performance parameter of the assembly operations.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the results displayed by said graphical user interface are indicative of an output ratio of each operation, wherein       Output    ⁢          xe2x80x83        ⁢    Ratio    =            The number of  boards manufactured by an operation              The number of  boards processed by the operation      
According to still another aspect of the invention, the results displayed by said graphical user interface are indicative of at least one of a success ratio and a failure ratio of each operation, wherein       SuccessRatio    =                  Total number of  boards processed successfully                    The number of  boards processed                  FailureRatio    =                  Total number of  boards processed unsuccessfully                    The number of  boards processed            
According to another aspect of the invention, the results displayed by said graphical user interface are indicative of a first pass yield of each operation, wherein       First    ⁢          xe2x80x83        ⁢    Pass    ⁢          xe2x80x83        ⁢    Yield    =            Number of boards that passed an
     operation on the first pass              Total number (distinct) boards
    that have been processed      
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the results displayed by said graphical user interface are indicative of a weighted average, wherein       Weighted    ⁢          xe2x80x83        ⁢    Average    =      The average number of times that a specific
board type has been processed for a specific
operation before it passed  
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the results displayed by said graphical user interface are indicative of an average cycle time of each of the sequence of operations.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the graphical user interface is further for displaying a listing and status of all devices processed during a selected time period.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the graphical user interface comprises a filter icon for generating a list of devices resulting in defined performance criteria of selected ones of said operations.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the graphical user interface is further for displaying a defects summary of the operations.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the preprocessor is further for determining a pass/fail performance of each operation based on the raw data, and for storing the thus determined pass/fail performances as entries in the database.